Chapter 18: End of the Invasion

Megumi slowly reoriented herself. She could feel a breeze and felt herself being lifted on someone's back.

"E…Eric?" she mumbled.

Her vision cleared up and she saw the black hair of someone else, confusing her. Her eyes widened as she realized she was on the back of the very last person she would've wanted.

"Nope~." Liang sang.

"H-huh!???" Alerted, Megumi jumped up in surprise, finding that Liang was now carrying her on his back while jumping from tall building to building. "W-w-w-what's going on!? Where are we!? What's happening!???"

"Oh? We're running away from a huge horde of demons. that's all" Liang said with a smile.

Glancing back, Megumi saw Cider was following close behind and a ginormous horde of demons that completely were overflowing the streets. She could only look on, flabbergasted by the sheer number. There were not only demons swarming through the streets, but there were even demons climbing the walls like spiders and jumping from building to building too.

She could feel herself becoming pale seeing this.

"Yeah, I think they're after you… After you zoned out demons started to surround us and everything…" Liang chirped. He then laughed out loud. "I'm surprised no one died when that happened."

"A-alright but why are you carrying me?" Megumi questioned.

"I wanted to carry you personally, but that guy wouldn't let me," Cider pouted.

"Maybe next time, short stuff, try to grow a few more inches." Liang jokes.

Cider simply stuck his tongue out at Liang, still upset with the decision made. "Meanie."

Suddenly a demon attacked Liang from the side. Megumi tried to warn Liang but was seemingly ignored.

The demons swiped his claws seemingly slicing through Liang's neck. However, to her shock, the demon's neck was sliced clean off instead. It evaporated into ash as Liang looked totally fine.

He scratched his neck. "I feel like a mosquito bit me." He spoke.

Megumi couldn't understand how he could be so calm after what just happened. Then she remembered this happening earlier when he saved her from those other demons.

"Is this… His power?" she wondered.

Liang turned his head, seeing a bright light in the distance. He smiled. "It looks like it's ready."

He quickly gestured for Cider to follow. "C'mon, this way."

Cider without hesitation followed Liang's lead as the swarm of demon followed close behind,

"What's happening now?" Megumi asked.

"This little invasion is coming to its climatic end. Hope you're ready for the fireworks."

********

Elsewhere, Annabelle is seething, watching as Megumi is being carried off to safety by Liang and Cider.

"That bitch! That harlot! The nobody! HOW IS SHE STILL ALIVE!!!??"

The table broke beneath her strength as her eyes became a deeper black, like the void in space. And her narrow white pupils were so thin, they were practically non-existent.

The grotesque demon, Dragerd, stood by and watched with great interest. He formed a smile, keeping a keen eye on Megumi. How interest in Megumi had been clear. He still surprised that a woman of her caliber could even defeat Dino in his chaos state.

Clearly there was more to her than what meets the eye.

Annabelle suddenly whipped around and posed her hand commandingly. "MORE DEMONS! WE NEED TO SEND MORE NOW!!!"

"I'm afraid we're all out." Dragerd said. He closed his eyes amused by Annabelle's sheer rage.

He slowly opened his eyes back up. "The best we can do is send the devourer."

"T-then send him. I don't care if he eats those other demons. As long as he kills here Then that's what matters to me!"

Dragerd formed a much more sinister smile. "Such wise words from a lady of your stature."

********

Back at the gates. The reapers continue their fight, trying to keep out the demon menace. They made strides in pushing the demons back outside of the city. They kept coming one after another, but slowly the numbers dwindled down 

"We got this! Keep pushing them back!!" A reaper shouted.

Unexpectedly, A large hand grasped the large stone wall like a branch.

"Huh?" Some of the reapers stopped in place as the demons around them started to flee. The all watched intently at the large hand now grasping the wall.

The stone cracked from just the mere grasp of its fingers. The demon slowly raised itself, revealing its true body.

It was a ginormous demon compiled with faces in the millions that tried to worm their way out of the skin of the body. They stretched and contorted the very arms, body and face of the despicable creature, all painted with a face of agony and suffering.

Megumi from afar saw this large, horrific demon that looked like they came straight from a nightmare. Its gaze then darted, straight at her. Seeing this her heart sank and felt even colder as her skin became pale.

"W-w-w-wehat is t-that thing?"

Liang and Cider both took notice as well. Liang grew more serious seeing the ginormous sized demon hopping over the wall like it was merely a small fence.

In that instant, many of the demons and reapers were crushed by its weight.

Liang spoke up. "That's a giant devourer. It's a demon almost as old as time itself, and by the looks of it, seems like this one consumed a lot of souls." a seriousness rose within his voice. "Demons like these are used by the sins of purgatory to maintain power and control over some parts of this world. If there was a place they didn't like, or it looked disadvantageous to them… The sins would send one of these things to single handedly wipe out other worlds and cities off the face of purgatory."

The giant scooped up some of the cores and earth beneath him and consumed them.

"Some people simply just call them destroyers for that reason… to be honest, most grimm's in today's day and age probably wouldn't even survive that thing… but today, it looks like we're in luck…"

As Liang finished his explanation, the demons that were once chasing after Megumi, quickly turned tailed, scurrying away. Clearly, they felt the danger of another, more powerful presence that was beyond even them.

This didn't sit well with Megumi, as she looked back at the giant demon. 

Slowly it trudged its way to their location clearly, just like the other demons, for some reason or another it was after her specifically.

A panic started to rise within her, and she looked back to Cider and Liang finding their face's sporting a calmness.

Suddenly they stopped, and land atop the tallest building in Gondola.

"W-wait! Why did we stop!?"

"We've reached our destination." Liang said. "Now we leave the rest to that friend of yours, or better yet… our ace."

"Friend? Ace?"

Cider sat with his legs crossed, pouting as he looked away from the scene. "I bet I could've beat that thing too!"

"What does he mean 'friend'... Unless he means-"

Out of nowhere an explosion rang out as something in supersonic speed sped past them. Megumi watched as a familiar robed individual hurdled towards the large demon devastating the city's buildings.

The demons roared and whipped his hand down as to swat the fly before him.

Unexpectedly, that very monster's hand was completely pushed aside!

A large fist bone of bone tentacles has formed and punched the gut of the demon, sending him hurtling back to the gate from whence it came!

The reaper, responsible for this attack, landed and a half-destroyed building looking at the demon before him.

His boney fingers reached out to the back of his bone neck, cracking it audibly.

"I never expected they'd actually send a giant devourer here… Just my luck." K said, clearly exhausted. He sighed, crossing his arms. 

K prepared a plethora of bone tentacles and watched as the Giant in front of him got up and made a mad dash for him.

His tongue outstretched in crazed hunger. The beast had found a strong prey to devour and outstretched his to grab him,

K, unamused by this, used his bone tentacle to slice the behemoth's hands off in an instant. K glared coldly up at the giant. "Lucky for you… I'm feeling merciful today…"

With a gesture of his hands, even more bone tentacles shot out from the darkness of the buildings and rubble that laid around him. They sprouted like plants, curving and entangling in one another. They all culminated together creating a top half giant sized man even bigger than the giant demon itself.

The once crazed demon looked up in shock. Even Megumi and Cider, who watched, were shocked by this display of immense power. Liang simply watched on, content.

"What's the matter?" K asked. "I made this… With all my soul." The giant man, manifested by K's bone tentacles, posed and raised its fist.

With a flick of his finger, the bone formed man struck hard at the demon. It blocked with his arms, but they were no match against the sheer power of K's creation.

It obliterated through its arm and shot its fist through its chest. As if that wasn't enough, an explosion of power surged and decimated chunks of the body around the fist, leaving only the eyes of the demons to look on and the bottom half of its body.

********

Annabelle and Dragerd who watched this scene from the safety of their hideout could only look on in shock.

"W…Where did this reaper come from?" Annabelle was frightened seeing such power on display. "Not even a Grimm is this powerful." Her voice cracked as she continued to watch.

"He's probably part of the 'Old Order'." Dragerd noted.

"Annabelle couldn't help but to glance at Dragerd curiously. "Old… Order…?"

Dragerd ignored Annabelle, stead, peering into the orb with even greater interest.

"We're retreating." Dragerd, plainly said.

"Huh!!? We can't back down now!"

"We've already lost…" Dragerd watched as the giant demon that was defeated, slowly turned to stone. The arms fell hard along with the top of the head that cratered to the ground. The bottom half of its body continued to stand, now a stone statue stood tall over the rubble it left behind.

Bone tentacles shot through this newly made statue, shattering it to bits.

"That's better." K said.

"With a reaper this powerful in the city, the invasion was doomed to fail…"

Annabelle could only seethe, hearing the words from her ally. As much as she wanted to order the demons to continue, she knew she had no control over the army. 

The only person the demons would listen to, was in fact, Dragerd.

Suddenly, K looked straight at them through the orb they were watching from. Shortly after he sent a bone tentacle through it, destroying their only means of seeing the events in Gondola.

Dragerd smirked, amused by this set back. "It looks like he found our eye too… With a reaper of his magnitude, there's clearly something important in that city. The sin of Rage will want to hear about this.

********

Megumi, who watched from afar alongside Cider, could only look on in shock. She knew that K was strong, but she didn't realize he was this strong.

"Not bad." Liang said with a smile. "That just leaves all the demons still lounging about… Huh?"

Liang along with all the reapers in the city witnessed a very bizarre sight. They watched as all the demons that had invaded started to flee.

"How odd… It isn't every day we see something like this…"

"There's no doubt about it anymore… These demons were clearly being controlled… There must be a power user of the sloth… That's the only thing that can explain this…"

Liang looked back to Megumi he saw as the blade that was still in her hand began to disperse into a bloody mist.

Megumi's eyes began to droop. "T-that's strange…. Why am I feeling so tired all of the sudden?"

Without warning, K stepped up to Megumi, Cider could only flinch, surprised by K's sudden arrival. "I'm glad that you're still safe. You did good, holding out for me…"

Megumi felt a subtle warmth hearing those words. She didn't expect for K to say those to her. But she wasn't against it either.

Slowly Megumi slipped back into a slumber, exhausted from the night's events.

"Cider." K spoke. " I can see that you fought hard…" He turned away and grabbed Megumi gently with his bone tentacle. "Thank you."

Cider smiled proudly with his head held high. "Hah. I also won my first game of war too! This is the best night ever!" Cider pumped his hands in the air, laughing.

"Hey, I challenge you to game of war, I bet I can beat you now- whoa!!"

K's bone tentacle suddenly grabbed him by the leg and held him upside down. "Don't get ahead of yourself now." K said.

"Hey! No fair!!" Cider began swinging and flailing his arms in vain at the reaper.

Liang watching this interaction couldn't help but give a chuckle.

"What an interesting bunch…" Liang thought to himself.